Skip to content

Heard on the CB

Do you know your BASIC?

·

FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program uses roadside inspection, violation and crash data to score motor carriers and decide who gets a warning letter, an investigation or an audit. The scores are calculated in the Safety Measurement System (SMS) and grouped into categories called BASICs, short for Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories.

The seven BASICs

  • Unsafe Driving. Dangerous or careless operation of a commercial vehicle. Examples: speeding, reckless driving, improper lane changes and inattention, including texting.
  • Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance. Operating while ill or fatigued, or not following the hours-of-service rules. Examples: exceeding the driving limits and keeping an incomplete or inaccurate record of duty status.
  • Driver Fitness. Drivers who are not qualified because of a lack of training, experience or medical qualification. Examples: no valid CDL for the vehicle and an expired medical certificate.
  • Controlled Substances and Alcohol. Operating while impaired by alcohol, illegal drugs or misused prescription or over-the-counter medication.
  • Vehicle Maintenance. Failing to properly maintain the vehicle. Examples: brakes, lights, tires and other mechanical defects, and failing to make required repairs. Cargo securement violations are counted here.
  • Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance. Improper packaging, marking, placarding or handling of hazardous materials. It applies to carriers that haul them. (This category replaced the older "Cargo-Related" BASIC.)
  • Crash Indicator. A history or pattern of crashes, based on state-reported crash data.

How the scores work

A carrier's measurement in each BASIC depends on the number of violations or crashes, how severe they were, and how recent they are, with newer events weighted more heavily. Measurements are compared with those of similar carriers to give a percentile: the higher the percentile, the worse the performance relative to peers. FMCSA sets an intervention threshold for each BASIC, and a carrier above it can expect a warning letter, an investigation or an audit. Thresholds differ by BASIC and by carrier type, such as general freight, hazmat and passenger, so check the SMS website for the current values.

Since a 2015 law, FMCSA does not show property carriers' percentile scores and alerts to the public, but FMCSA and enforcement use them, and you can see your own by logging in to the SMS.

Changes under way

FMCSA has been working on an update to the SMS methodology. The plan, published in a November 2024 Federal Register notice, renames the BASICs "safety categories" and regroups the violations that feed them into a smaller set of violation groups. The data that goes in does not change, but how it is scored does. FMCSA says the launch date will be announced separately, so check the CSA website for what is in effect when you read this.

What you can do

  • Look at your own record. Review your inspection history and look for patterns, such as the same violation on several trucks.
  • Fix the cause, not the ticket. Pre-trip inspections and regular maintenance reduce Vehicle Maintenance violations. Clean logs and an ELD reduce HOS violations. Driver files with current CDL and medical cards reduce Driver Fitness violations.
  • Challenge errors. If an inspection or crash was recorded incorrectly, you can ask FMCSA to review it through DataQs.
  • Keep good records. Maintenance records, driver files and trip records, all in one place, make audits and reviews much easier. See Staying in good books with the DOT.